OTS: Nahash, Noise Arcade, Charm, thruoutin

XP has got its mojo back I must admit – after what seemed like a lackluster 2013, relatively speaking, I’ve been finding myself sulking around the Gulou joint more often this year, digging my teeth into some of the scenes’ stranger sounds. God knows why, but perhaps just looking to shake things up a bit more, audibly speaking. Tonight brought a sucker punch of an act, the malevolent Nahash, the monstrosity created by Shanghai producer Laura Ingalls whose tortured, hard as nails rock em sock set left me drained emotionally, for better or worse.

Let the blackness wash over you. Check out more including a sonically headtrip through Noise Arcade’s gear porn as well as live cuts from electronic saboteurs thruoutin and Charm.

Thruoutin (live at XP 06.03.2014) by Livebeijingmusic on Mixcloud

I call thruoutin and Charm saboteurs because of the experimental relish they infuse their sets with – these guys aren’t looking to take your mother home. They’re looking to shock, confound, and throw her through a blender – she’s not sure what just happened, but she’s not quite the same after.

Charm (Live at XP 06.03.2014) by Livebeijingmusic on Mixcloud

This is jazz for electronic junkies, a soundtrack for the future machine generation. Or maybe it’s just time to check myself into a retirement home.

Speaking of madness filtered through wires upon wires, if you thought Noise Arcade was a mindfuck through your headphones, then you ain’t Noise Arcade live. The way the music ripples throughout each piece, overlapping, colliding, merging with one another it’s almost overwhelming.

There’s coherence perhaps, the same way there’s coherence in a hive of ants or bees busying away at just ‘being’, but from the outside it just looks like another clusterfuck. Therein lies the surreal splendor of Noise Arcade – sooner or later you just need to jump in line.

What’s the perfect medicine to having your ears led astray – how about a hefty dose of unleashed havoc – an unnerving pitch black descent into straight up Evil. Right on? I’ve been to plenty of metal shows in Beijing but none have ever brought the pain like Nahash did tonight – it’s a noisy mess of unchecked aggression that seeps out like a virus. There’s a cult in here somewhere and I’ll be damned, just give me my hood and cloak already. I’m ready to give in. Props to Tina Sprinkles on visuals – it added ten fold to my dementia. I swear if only I had Nahash by my side in my preteen years instead of Korn I’d be so much better off. Screw parental neglect when the devils at your doorstep.

Note: It took youku half a day to verify those Nahash videos, which only leads me to believe that some poor youku employee had to sit through those videos and wonder whether or not by allowing them he was doing the devil\’s work